RISMedia's Real Estate Magazine

MAR 2019

Real Estate magazine is the industry's leading source for real estate news and information since 1980. Published monthly by RISMedia, Real Estate magazine offers timely and relevant real estate news to the industry's top brokers and agents.

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RISMedia's REAL ESTATE March 2019 97
Ensuring Success
Every Step of the
Way
by Paige Tepping
Brenda Elliott
CEO/Owner
Weichert, Realtors® - The Space Place
Huntsville, Ala.
www.weicherthsv.com
Region served: North Alabama
Years in real estate: Almost 30
Number of offices: 3
Number of agents: 130
No. 1 tip for staying profitable:
Control your own business. For me,
it's a two-pronged approach that
focuses on recruiting/retention and
bringing in company-generated
leads so that we can keep the
agents busy, and Weichert® pro
-
vides amazing resources to help
with each.
Key to motivating agents: Make
sure they have the information nec
-
essary to educate the client.
Top tip for getting buyers and
sellers to work together: We can
either be a very strong conduit and
facilitate the transaction between
buyers or sellers, or we can be the
gasoline on the fire. We need to
be able to screen out any emotion
from the process and help our cli
-
ents work together to achieve their
end goal.
What makes Weichert, Realtors®
– The Space Place unique? What
makes us unique is the fact that
we have a comprehensive career
development program that's been
years in the making. It's something
that we work on every week to
ensure that it's constantly improved
so that we're giving agents what
they need to be successful. If we're
making sure all agents—not just
those who are new—have the in
-
formation they need to continue to
improve, to get better and grow in
their profession, we're doing what
we need to do.
How do you stay flexible and rel
-
evant in today's ever-changing real
estate landscape? I think it's impor
-
tant, in this landscape of instant of-
fers and doing everything online, to
be the real estate concierge so that
we're providing clients with what
they need to know before they even
know they need it. Staying flexible
and relevant extends beyond simply
being an educator and facilitator.
Today, we must go the extra mile to
bring consumers the information
they need, and to be the people
they need us to be without them
knowing what they need.
In what ways are you preparing your
agents for the future of real estate?
Again, it all circles back to infor
-
mation, and providing consistent
information regarding the market
so that agents can build their
market knowledge. Preparing our
agents for the future is also about
being there with information related
to new technology, knowing how we
can continue to get better at our
profession and not letting technol
-
ogy take over what we do when
assisting our customers. Over the
past four or five years, we've been
using technology to help us, but
we've allowed it to hurt us, as well.
We have to get back to the basics
of communication and understand
that while there's a time and
place for technology, we can't let
it replace the relationship with the
client.
What is the most significant trend
positively impacting your business
today? While I try not to get caught
up in the trends, I do believe it's
important to be aware of what's
going on. One of the biggest
things we have to fight today is the
misinformation that's out there. As
trends come and go, I'm focused
on my agents and our clients and
how we can improve. I'm constantly
stressing to agents the importance
of servicing their clients and to not
be afraid of what's coming down
the pike that they think might usurp
their role.
For more information, please visit www.weichert.com.
"If we're making sure
all agents—not just
those who are new—
have the information
they need to continue
to improve, to get
better and grow in
their profession, we're
doing what we need
to do."